Monday, May 27

French Lesbian Love Story Wins Top Prize at Cannes

A French lesbian love story and a veteran Hollywood star are among the top winners at the 66th annual Cannes Film Festival - the world's most prestigious celebration of cinema.

Blue Is the Warmest Color, a story of a teenage girl's love affair with an older woman, won the Golden Palm (Palme d'Or) award for best film.

Its Tunisian-born director, Abdellatif Kechiche, said he is dedicating his prize, in part, to young Tunisians whose successful revolution gives them the chance to live and love in freedom.

Hollywood's Bruce Dern won the best actor award for his role of an old man returning home to claim an inheritance in the film Nebraska.

The best actress prize went to Berenice Bejo for The Past, the story of a woman trying to balance motherhood with an ex-husband and a new fiancee.

The Grand Prix prize for the second best film was awarded to the Coen brothers' story of a folk singer in the 1960s Inside Llewn Davis.

Mexico's Amat Escalante was best director for his violent drug war drama Heli, and China's Jia Zhangke won the best screenplay prize for his A Touch of Sin, the story of Chinese citizens rebelling against corruption.